Tracey's list
by ThatGreekLady
Summary: Tracey Davis is sick of being the forgotten girl and is determined to make a change during her 6th year. Will she manage to find love? Tracey/Theodore
1. Chapter 1

Tracey Davis leaned on her best friend's shoulder closing her eyes.

 _This year is going to be different_ , she decided.

She was always the quiet, forgotten girl, that most people ignored. By the way her classmates refer to her 'Daphne's friend' she was pretty sure they didn't even know her name.

Tracey was incredibly insecure when she got sorted into Slytherin, mainly because of her half-blood status but also because of the terrifying rumors about the House of the snakes. _The dark House_ , people called it.

She was surprised that nobody inside Slytherin made her blood status an issue and she quickly understood why. It was an unspoken rule among the snakes to not ask many questions about each other's families. No Slytherin said anything for example when Malfoy's and Nott's fathers were arrested and sent to Azkaban, or when Zabini's mother got married once again ( _why do people keep marrying that woman?_ Tracey wondered).

In general inside the House of the serpents people leave you alone as long as you don't bother them, which is nice in some cases, but also makes most Slytherins seem detached and secretive. Trust isn't a common thing among the snakes.

Of course, there was one fellow snake that Tracey trusted (within reason of course, as any Slytherin knows to always be wary of people) and that was Daphne Greengrass her beautiful, talented friend. So beautiful and talented that she always managed to overshadow Tracey.

The half-blood girl never had the chance to shine, mostly because of her quiet personality but also because her best friend seemed so much better than her in every way. Tracey loved Daphne but she couldn't deny her jealousy when every boy seemed to approach her only to get closer to Daphne or with how her grades always weren't as good as her blond friend's.

 _This year is going to be different,_ she thought once again to herself. This year I'm going to make something of myself. I'm not going to be the ignored girl any longer that nobody cares about.

Tracey had created a list with goals she was determined to achieve until the end of the school year.

1)Improve your appearance.

2)Get on the Quidditch team.

3)Improve your grades

4)Get a boyfriend...

Tracey had already made effort for numbers 1 and 3. She was exercising throughout the summer and actually managed to lose some weight and she also tried to do something with her hair which always managed to look greasy for some reason. She had also started studying a lot but no matter how much she studied the theory, she always messed up in practice. She sometimes wondered if she was partly squib.

Numbers 2 and 4 were almost ridiculous goals. The Slytherin House was notorious for not allowing girls in the team and Tracey knew she was rather ugly to get a boyfriend but she was determined to try anyway.

"You look pretty today, love, did you do something to your hair," Daphne asked her studying her appearance.

Tracey blushed. She was not used to compliments of any kind.

"Eh, I just used some potions you know, to get rid of...you know how they always look so greasy."

"I will write to my mother if you want, I'm sure she will know some nice spells for your hair."

"We should also recommend them to Professor Snape!" Said Tracey and Daphne chuckled.

"Have you also lost some weight?"

"Yea, I decided to start taking care of my appearance this year."

"Hmm, is there a reason for that Davis?" Asked Daphne winking at her, "is there perhaps some boy?"

"Pff, like any boy would turn to look at me!"

"You should get rid of that defeatist attitude, love. We're Slytherins, we fight for what we want."

 _Oh, I will fight for it,_ Tracey thought _, I just doubt I will get the results I want._

"Just tell me it's not Blaise Zabini!" Daphne said the name disdainfully and Tracey grinned.

"Does he still try to ask you out?"

"Oh, I hope he has abandoned that futile idea this year."

"You should maybe give him a chance," said Tracey and Daphne glared at her, "oh come on he's not that bad!"

"He's an arrogant prat," said Daphne, "and he hangs out with Malfoy and Parkinson."

"Maybe Malfoy has finally matured this year. You know...after what happened with his father..."

"I'll believe it when I see it," said Daphne and then eyed her friend suspiciously, "oh Merlin! Don't tell me your mystery man is Malfoy!"

"No, no,no,no! There is no mystery man. There isn't anyone, ok?"

Daphne winked at her and went back to reading her magazine.

 _Of course there isn't any man_ , thought Tracey, _who could it be? I barely know anyone in the school and the Slytherin boys in my year are all jerks. Well, except Theodore Nott, but he barely talks to anyone. They should add the name Theodore Nott next to the word mysterious in the dictionary._

"Potter is pretty nice," said Daphne suddenly and Tracey thought she misheard.

"Potter?"

"Well, he's cute, he seems...more mature than most boys at our age."

"Do you fancy Potter?"

Daphne blushed, "maybe, I have been thinking about it for a long time now. If there's anyone I would date it would be Potter."

"This isn't some trick to annoy Malfoy and Zabini, right?"

"Of course not," said Daphne, "however it would be amusing to see Zabini's face if I get to date Potter."

"That's so true, but Malfoy wouldn't stop bothering you. You know how obsessed he is about Potter."

"I sometimes wonder if he has a crush on him."

"Nah, he's just jealous."

They kept debating whether Malfoy had a secret crush on Potter or not until the train reached its destination.

"Well, what do you think of Slughorn?" Asked Daphne.

They had just finished their first Potions class with their new professor Horace Slughorn and were now heading towards The Great Hall.

"He seems ok. Definitely nicer than Snape."

"I heard he'll start a little club for gifted students and for those with good connections. Do you think we'll be invited."

"You will be maybe. Me? No way."

"Oh come on, you're good at Potions Tracey. Not as good as Granger or Potter apparently. I wonder when did Potter become so good at Potions anyway."

"Maybe it was a fluke," said Daphne who was now watching Harry Potter walking in front of them, "Potter!" She shouted suddenly.

The boy turned and looked at the girls suspiciously. "Yes?"

Daphne flashed him her best smile. "You did so well in class today. Snape was wrong about you."

"Oh," he suddenly looked awkward.

"Would you be so kind to let us look at your notes? I totally failed my own potion."

He suddenly blushed. "Eh, excuse me, I have to go to..." He turned and left without another word and the girls looked at each other surprised.

"What's wrong with him?"

"Maybe he thought you were up to something."

"I was up to something! I wanted to compliment him."

The girls kept discussing Harry's curious behavior until they reached The Great Hall and sat down next to the Slytherin table.

"Maybe, it's because I'm a Slytherin," said Daphne who was still sulking about how Harry Potter ignored her.

"Now Daphne, what is that defeatist attitude? Aren't you the one who says to never give up?"

"I won't give up of course. Maybe complimenting him was the wrong approach, but how will I get his attention when he has all those girls swooning over him?"

"Who are you talking about?" Said Malfoy who was now sitting next to Daphne.

"That's none of your business, Draco," she said, and don't think we didn't notice you taking some of that polyjuice potion. I hope you're not up to something."

He smiled, "that's none of your business Daphne," he said mimicking her voice, "and if you were worried about getting my attention, I'm sorry love but I have more important business this year."

Daphne rolled her eyes and Tracey looked at her sympathetically. Apparently, Malfoy hasn't matured like they were hoping.

Tracey was holding her broom walking towards the Quidditch field. She was sure she was going to humiliate herself and the way the Slytherin boys were looking at her didn't help at all.

"Did you lose your way girly?" Said one of the seventh year boys. Tracey just ignored him.

To her relief, Bletchley allowed her to try out for chaser and didn't tell her to fuck off. Overall she thought she had flown pretty well that way. She was still disappointed but not surprised that she didn't get in the main team.

"You're not bad you know," said Bletchley, "Vaisey is just better, maybe we'll get you as reserve, what do you think?"

"Oh! Of course," she said blushing, she was not used to boys talking at her.

 _Well, it's something,_ she _though_ t _, I technically did get on the team, right? Even as reserve. She smiled to herself._ _Maybe I will cross out one of the goals in my list._


	2. Chapter 2

Tracey had been trying all afternoon to learn to do non-verbal spells. She had tried concentrating as hard as possible, holding her breath, using the most simple spells but no matter what she seemed completely untalented in that aspect of magic. _How did I even get an OWL in DADA_ , she thought bitterly. It didn't help that everyone else in class could at least do simple non-verbal spells by now.

"Tracey!" She was startled when she heard her friend's voice as she had fully concentrated on the spells to pay attention to anyone else.

"Daphne?"

"You won't believe what happened," Daphne looked flustered yet very happy, "Harry Potter agreed to go to Hogsmead with me!"

"Oh! Did he ask you?"

"No, I asked him and he said yes!"

They spent the next half an hour gossiping about rumors they had heard about Harry Potter and trying to guess where he would take Daphne for the date.

"I wish I was more like you," said Tracey bitterly, "if I asked a boy out they would probably start throwing tomatoes at me."

"Don't be ridiculous Tracey, why wouldn't a boy want to date you? You look great especially after the hair potions I gave you and you're a very nice girl."

"I'm way too shy in front of boys."

"So? Some boys think shyness is cute. Your problem is that you're too insecure. Why don't you try asking a boy out yourself."

"I couldn't do that. I get embarrassed at the mere thought."

"What about Ron Weasley?" Daphne winked at her, "we could go on double dates."

"No way! I don't think Granger would be too pleased about that."

"Well, I guess it's obvious that there's something going on between those two but it seems like they don't even realise it themselves."

They started talking about the possibility of Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were already a couple when Blaise Zabini walked into the common room. Upon hearing them he rolled his eyes.

"When you're finished gossiping," he said coolly, "I want to talk to you about something Daphne."

Tracey blushed but then Daphne whispered in her ear "says the guy who spends his time with the biggest gossips in school, Malfoy and Parkinson." They both chuckled.

"What do you want Zabini?" Daphne said approaching him.

"I wanted to talk a little more privately," he smiled at her and then turned his eyes to Tracey, "do you mind Davidson?"

"Her name is Davis!" Said Daphne angrily.

"It's ok Daphne, I have studying to do anyway," said Tracey quickly leaving the room.

"So what do you want?"

"Daphne, you're too mean, why don't you relax a little?" He dropped onto the couch and pointed at the seat next to him. Daphne rolled her eyes and sat down.

"What did you want to talk about, my dear Zabini?" Said Daphne with an obviously fake polite tone while batting her eyelashes. Zabini just smirked.

"Now you're acting like a child and here I just wanted to be nice," he pouted.

"You nice? If I ever saw you being nice I would suspect polyjuice potion."

He smiled. "Anyway, Daphne, it came to my attention that you're going to Hogsmead with Harry Potter."

Daphne blushed a little. "Yes, so what?"

He shook his head, "Love, I know you're fluttered to go out with Saint Potter The Chosen One, but I feel like it's my duty to warn you. Potter's going to use you."

"Use me?" She almost laughed, "It's just a date, we're not going to... have intercouse or something, besides Potter is not that kind of guy!"

"Of course not, Potter is a total virgin," he said dismissively, "I meant that he has no interest in you whatsoever. Our Lord and Savior has too many fans nowadays, what makes you think he would be specifically interested in you?"

"Well, that's exactly why we're going on a date , to get to know each other better," Daphne completely ignored the subtle insult that she was somehow not worthy of Potter as she was used to Zabini being a jerk, "why do you care so much Zabini, are you jealous?"

"Jealous of you?" he scoffed, "I just don't want to see our little Slytherin Ice Queen getting hurt."

"Well, mind your own business."

"Do you know how I learnt you're going out with Potter?I actually heard him and Weasley talking. The red-head seemed convinced you want to spy on them."

"Well, let them talk, I'll prove them wrong," she stood up trying to fight her frustration.

"Whatever you say Princess," he said trying to fake indifference. Daphne just shook her head and left.

* * *

"You can't just not go to Hogsmead!" Daphne felt a little guilty for leaving her friend alone to go on a date with a boy.

"I will be fine Daphne, I want to practice some spells anyway," said Tracey. Daphne bit her lips.

"What about Milicent? Why don't you go with her?"

"She's going with Pansy and you know how I can't stand her."

Daphne growled with frustration, "I can't just leave you alone here, you have to go with someone."

"For the last time Daphne, I will be fine..."

"Theo," Daphne suddenly shouted at a tall boy. "Are you going with someone to Hogsmead?"

"Daphne no!" Pleaded Tracey.

Theodore Nott turned his head and raised his eyebrow, "Why Greengrasss are you interested?"

Daphne grinned while Tracey was red like a tomato and wanted to hide. "You see my friend here will be all alone and I wondered if you would like to keep her company."

Theo looked disappointed for a moment but then smiled at Tracey, "of course, would you like to come to Hogsmead with me Miss Davis?"

"Ehh, actually I..."

"Of course she wants!" Interrupted Daphne quickly, "she will meet you at 10 outside of the Great Hall."

Theo smiled and winked at Tracey who just wanted to disappear. When he turned and left, Tracey snapped and started hitting Daphne with the parchment she was holding,"I-am-going-to-kill-you-Daphne-Greengrass!"

"Ouch! Don't be silly love, Theo is a decent guy, I'm sure you'll have fun."

"He doesn't even want to go out with me, he was just being polite."

"You're stupid. Listen, you're Theo's type I know it, you're both the introvert kind. Even if nothing comes out of it, I don't see why you're complaining. It's just a date and Theo is a decent bloke, not to mention that he has got handsome after the summer."

"He was always handsome," said Tracey blushing.

"Aww, so you've been paying attention to Nott you little minx? You like dark, mysterious boys?" Tracey hit her with the parchment again and Daphne laughed.


	3. Chapter 3

Tracey was lying on her bed unwilling to face the world. Idiot Daphne, she thought, don't you see that that he doesn't want to go out with me? I'm sure he'll be relieved if I never show up.

"Rise and shine sweetheart!" Her friend always had a ridiculous energy in the morning. Tracey just groaned and wrapped the blanket even more tightly around her before someone rudely dared to grab it and take it away.

"5 more minutes…"

"We can't leave the boys waiting, we have so much work to do."

"I really don't want to go Daphne," she wrapped her arms around her legs ," it's a total pity date and a waste of time."

"And now you're being stupid, Theo is delighted to go out with a beautiful girl like you."

Tracey just snorted, "fine, I'll go on the damn date only because I don't want to look totally pathetic, but you're going to pay for this Greengrass."

Daphne just laughed, "aww our little girl is developing a backbone, I love it. You will be thanking me one day, love. Anyway, get up now we'll get you something nice to wear."

They spent more than an hour selecting clothes (Daphne perhaps knew what she was doing waking her up so soon!). Tracey in the end chose a blue dress and a black jacket . She thought they would look nice, on anyone other than her. She sighed. Perhaps this is all in my head, she thought to herself, perhaps I'm not as bad as I think.

Daphne wore muggle black leather pants and a shirt, but it didn't matter because everything would look gorgeous on her slim, well-shaped body. Daphne then spent several minutes braiding her friends hair, while she only brushed hers and let them down.

Both girls left the dormitory, Daphne with an air of confidence and Tracey feeling ridiculous. On their way to the Great Hall, they run into Zabini who had a smug look on his face and a 7th year Slytherin girl wrapped around him, kissing his neck. Daphne groaned and they pretended to ignore them.

"Wait here love, Theo will arrive soon, I'm going in to meet Harry," said Daphne after they got outside of the the Great Hall.

Tracey felt her heart beating hard. This was the first time she would be alone with a guy other than her father. She wondered how could Daphne be so calm and collected when going on dates.

"Tracey?" She turned. Theodore Nott was standing in front of her. His smile faltered. "You're not sick , are you?"

"Eh?" She started panicking, did she look so ugly?

"You are very pale," he said and he must have read her thoughts because he quickly added, "but you're very pretty. Would you prefer we stay around here, until you...eh...feel better?"

"Y-yes," she said avoiding to look at him.

He smiled, "come one lets get some fresh air."

They walked out of the castle, (Tracey stumbled several times as if her own body wanted her too look like a fool) and Theo asked if she wanted to sit to a place he knew next to the lake. Tracey just nodded, unable to say any words and he led her to a bench under some willow trees , (not the whomping willow, normal ones) where they sat down and didn't say anything for several minutes. Theo was staring at the lake lost in his thoughts and Tracey wanted to jump into the water and drown until he suddenly chuckled and said.

"You remind me of myself last year you know."

"R-really?"

"Yes, I was so nervous and lost. It's probably even worse for men who are expected to make the first moves. It's pretty bad until you realize how silly your worries are. We're just classmates wanting to get to know each other and have a good time."

She blushed.

"Gladly for you, unlike how my own first dates went, I think you're pretty cute." She was as red as a tomato now.

"H-how exactly did you get rid of the stress?"

"Like I said, you need to think that it's not that big of a deal. If I intimidate you, try imagining me like the ugly 11 years old kid I was when we first met."

"I never thought you were ugly," she whispered and he smiled.

"So what Quidditch team to you support?"

* * *

Daphne and Harry's date had not gone nearly as well as Daphne had hoped. First of all,Harry seemed fundamentally opposed to going to Madame Puddifoot's to Daphne's surprise and they settled for Three Broomsticks. Harry hadn't said much except asking some questions about Malfoy, (like she would know or care about what the blond git was doing in his free time!) and he had blushed and evaded the question when she tried to playfully asked him to tutor her in potions. After deciding they obviously lacked any sort of chemistry, Daphne decided to leave him with his Gryffindor friends who had just entered the Inn.

Daphne started walking towards the castle in an obviously bad mood and she almost snapped and started yelling at some third years who dated to ask her where the Zonko's shop was. She wondered how her friend was doing with Theo and she caught herself wishing her date went just as bad. Then she felt horrible guilt for her petty jealousy.

She walked towards the dungeons and as if things couldn't get any worse, she saw Blaise and his girl snogging and she started shouting at them to get lost or she would call the Head Boy. When she finally reached the common room she dropped onto a couch and started drinking the butterbeer she had brought with her.

"Bad day?" Said Zabini who had apparently left his girlfriend to come and annoy her. His face showed that he was nothing but pleased she was indeed having a bad day.

"I shouldn't have snapped at you like that," she admitted, "but get lost before things get worse."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," he said smugly.

"Harry didn't try to 'use' me, we just didn't have enough chemistry and it was clear that he would rather be with his friends. Why don't you leave me alone now? I'm sure you shouldn't keep your little friend waiting."

"Jealous?" He said and he chuckled as she sneered at him. "So what did you and Potter talk about?"

"That's none of your business."

"Jeez, I'm trying to make polite conversation here Greengrass, no need to be so cold."

"Pff, I know you better than that."

"Well, if you ever decide to actually have fun with a man, I'll try to make some time for you," he smirked and left the room leaving Daphne furious. About ten minutes later Theo and Tracey entered the common room laughing. Daphne felt that hint of jealousy again but was also pleased to see her friend being happy and relaxed. Tracey smiled and walked towards her as Theo headed to the boys' dormitory.

"I'm the best matchmaker, say it," said Daphne winking at her. Tracey rolled her eyes.

"It's not like that! We were simply friendly that's all."

"But you would like to be more than friendly, right?"

Tracey blushed, "I don't want to give myself too much hope."

"So what were you too guys doing? Where did you go, I didn't see you anywhere at the village."

"Oh, we stayed here at school ,it was better this way. I would feel awkward if people started gossiping about me and Theo after seeing us at Hogsmeade. We talked a lot and I think we could become friends somehow…if he wants it…"|

"What were you talking about?"

"Quidditch mainly. He's a huge fan of Puddlemere United like me and he also listens to the same muggle bands I do. Merlin, did you even know Theo liked muggle music? He was also very relaxed and confident all the time, with how quiet he usually is, I always thought he was shy. I also noticed his eyes look green under the sun even though they're normally brown. He also offered to help me with the non-verbal charms, he's so nice."

"Woah, woah, it sounds like someone is in love."

"I'm not in love…"

"Yea, right, so did you kiss?

"Of course not!"

"But you want him to kiss you, right?"

"Oh shut up Daphne, " said Tracey laughing and Daphne chuckled.

"So how did your date with Potter go?"

Daphne frowned, "do you remember when we were discussing about Draco having an unrequited crush on Potter?"

"Yes…"

"Well, it might not be so unrequited. The first thing he asked me was whether Malfoy had bought any suspicious item and what do I think Malfoy does in his free time."

Tracey laughed, "he obviously tried to get information out of you but in a very unsubtle way."

Daphne scoffed, "he was polite, don't get me wrong, but it was obvious that he wanted to be with his friends, so I left him with them. Of course that doesn't stop me from being bitter about it…"

"By the way, do you think Malfoy is actually up to something?"

"Hmm, he certainly disappears for many hours, doesn't he? Not that I'm complaining of course," Tracey and Daphne started laughing and were interrupted by Pansy Parkinson and Milicent Bulstrode entering the common room.

"Some Gryffindor girl was cursed," announced Pansy with a tone like she was talking about the funniest thing. "She went and touched some cursed necklace."

"Who was it Pansy?"

"Some Quidditch player, Bennett or something like that."

"Bell?"

"Yea, that one. I'm going to tell Draco."

"How come you and Draco didn't go to Hogsmeade together?"

"Eh," Pansy hesitated, "he had work to do."

"School work?"  
"..Yes, excuse me now," she left the common room. Tracey and Daphne stared at her curiously.


	4. Chapter 4

"Davis?" Tracey raised her eyes to face Bletchley, the keeper and captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team. He seemed in a particularly bad mood. "Vaisey got injured, get prepared because you're going to play today."

She almost choked on the bread she was eating for breakfast. "W-what?"

"ARE YOU DEAF?" He snapped and Tracey jumped in surprise. "START GETTING PREPARED NOW!"

"Poor guy, seems ready to have a stroke," commented Daphne once Bletchley left to go shout at some younger student named Harper. "I heard that Malfoy won't be able to play too, things don't look so good for our team."

"Really, what happened to Malfoy?"

"I don't know maybe you should ask your boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend!" It was true that she and Theodore were spending some time together but it was mostly for studying. Theo was very good in DADA and Arithmacy while Tracey was struggling and was glad to receive some help. In return Tracey was helping him out in Potions, a subject he was not particularly fond of.

Tracey ate quickly and rushed to the Slytherin locker rooms to get prepared for the match.

After about an hour, Daphne was sitting on the Slytherin bleachers and Blaise had the audacity to sit next to her to her great displeasure.

"Your friend looks like she's going to be sick," he commented and Tracey indeed looked very pale while she entered the field with the rest of the team.

"Perhaps she shouldn't have swallowed down breakfast so quickly," admitted Daphne who was now worried about her friend.

"Shit, we have no chance with a team like this."

"Nonsense, we're going to win this," said Daphne without actually believing her own words. "Why doesn't Malfoy play anyway?"

"Aw you know, he had other things to do."

"What kind of things?"

"I have no obligation to tell you," said Zabini smirking at her frowning face.

"Nott is an idiot," said Zabini after the match had started and the gryffindors were scoring one goal after the other. "If he doesn't make a move on Davis soon he's going to end up in the friendzone."

"What the hell is the friendzone?"

"Shut the fuck up Zabini," said Nott who was sitting a few seats behind them and heard his name being mentioned.

Blaise smiled, "we were just saying you should provide comfort to Miss Davis after the match," he shouted, "she's going to need it after this disaster of a match."

"Is Tracey flying well?" Daphne changed the subject quickly, "I don't know much about Quidditch."

"She's not bad at flying but she hasn't even touch the quaffle. To be fair our other chasers are not doing much better. Aw fuck!" Potter had grabbed the snitch and the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff fans started cheering. Zabini laughed when Ginny Weasley slammed into Zacharias Smith the biased commentator.

"Can you imagine if one of the Slytherins did that to Lee Jordan last year? Everyone would scream bloody murder, but now they're all laughing, look at them. Saint Gryffindors can do no wrong."

"Whatever," said Daphne, "I'm going to find Tracey to see if she's ok."

"No love you'll stay with me, I want to see if Nott will listen to my advice."

"Don't call me 'love', it's beyond creepy."

"Whatever you say doll." Daphne snorted but she decided to follow Zabini in the Great Hall. She certainly didn't want to get in the way of her friend's love life.

* * *

Tracey left the female locker room lost in her thoughts. _If only I had played better.._

"You're going to catch a cold," said Theodore Nott who was apparently waiting for her outside. Tracey blushed. Indeed her hair were still wet from the shower and she had forgotten to dry them. Why did she always have to look like a complete fool?

"Here," he cast a warming spell and she felt her hair drying.

"Thank you," she said, "we were pretty bad out there, weren't we?"

He shrugged , "it's just a match and all odds were against you. You weren't even prepared to play so you shouldn't blame yourself."

"I didn't even touch the quaffle," she sighed, "Theo, do you mind going for a walk or something? I don't want to face the team just yet."

He smiled, "we can do that."

They started walking towards the lake quietly. "I didn't want you to see me playing so badly," she confessed, "you must think I'm terrible at Quidditch."

"I think you could be good with some practice," he said, "someone like Bletchley wouldn't pick you for no reason, especially since he got a lot of shit for letting a girl on the team."

"Oh, I didn't know that," she said feeling even more guilty now. She must have disappointed the captain with her horrendous performance.

"Hey," he said putting his hands on her shoulders, "nobody is blaming you. Nobody on the team performed well and it's logical since you lost two main players at the last minute."

She stared into his eyes that looked green under the sunlight and thought about how beautiful he was. Without thinking she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss. He responded rather enthusiastically by wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer.

* * *

Tracey wasn't sure if she should be feeling delighted or panicked when she entered the common room. Her friend must have noticed her face because she grabbed her arm and guided her to the girls dormitory.

"Tell me everything girl!"

"Eh," whispered Tracey , "Theo…"

"What did Theo do?" Daphne looked almost worried now.

"Eh," she said touching her lips.

"Did he kiss you?" Tracey only nodded.

"Oh Tracey I'm so excited, come on sit down, how was it?"

"It was…very good, excellent actually."

"So why do you look sad?"

"Daphne…I don't know why he did it. He can't possibly like me, maybe he was trying to cheer me up or something!"

"You're so stupid. Of course he likes you. You're a beautiful, sweet girl."

"But he's just so perfect, so beautiful and smart. How could he possibly like me?"

Daphne frowned knowing Theodore Nott was far from perfect and that she herself would hesitate to even call him handsome.

"He's not perfect silly, I bet you see him that way because you're in love."

"I'm not.. Ok maybe I am, but what can I do? Someone like him would never fall in love with me."

"Why do you underestimate yourself so much? I'm telling you, you're beautiful. Theo thinks you're beautiful. You're the only one who doesn't understand this."

Tracey laid down on her bed unconvinced.

* * *

"How did it go Mr. Lover Boy?" Asked Blaise Zabini once Theo sat next to him in one of the couches. "Did you snog her?"

Theo just winked for an answer and then turned towards the other boy, the blond who looked unusually pale. "Where the hell where you? Why did you say you were sick?"

"I don't know, maybe because I am sick? Sod off Nott!" Said Draco Malfoy sounding a bit tired.

"You look like shit," said Zabini.

"Thank you very much," snorted Malfoy, "who did Nott snog anyway? Did some Hufflepuff take pity on him?"

"Tracey Davis," said Zabini, "those two have it going on for some time now?"

"Who the hell is Tracey Davis?"

"She's in our class. Dark haired chick who's always around Daphne," said Zabini.

"That hideous, half-blood troll?" Said Malfoy and Nott tried hard to swallow his anger knowing that Malfoy was baiting him. He failed.

"What got your knickers in a twist Malfoy? Is it because Parkinson finally dump your sorry ass? Is it because you have seconds thoughts after nearly killing someone?"

Draco stood up his face turning red from anger, "what are you implying Nott?"

"Oh, you know exactly what I'm talking about," Theo stood up too and he was several inches taller than the blond.

Malfoy's hand itched to pull out his wand but he decided to just snort. "You will regret this after the Dark Lord takes over this useless school."

"Implying he will give a shit about you after you fail whatever suicide mission he gave you for your father's failure."

Draco was now fuming with anger, but he knew better than to attack Theodore Nott whose father was rumored to be an expert in dark curses. He glared at him and turned around and left. _They will all regret it one day_ , he thought.

"You shouldn't have provoked him so openly, you know," said Zabini after Malfoy was out of sight.

Nott snorted, "I'm sick of the bigmouth clown acting like he owns all of Slytherin all these years."

"So do you think he did it? Did he curse the Gryffindor girl?"

"You saw his reaction, what do you think?"

Zabini frowned thinking about how things could get so bad. He used to be glad to leave his house and his mother who got cursed when she was younger so that everyone who married her would meet his death. He used to be glad to come to school where your biggest problem used to be the rivalry with the lions. The last thing he wanted was to sleep in a room with someone who attempted to murder another student. Feeling dizzy, he grabbed his cloak and left to get some fresh air.


	5. Chapter 5

Daphne was in an abandoned classroom practicing the new spells Snape had taught them, when someone knocked the door. Daphne opened it and found Harry Potter holding some sort of parchment. She wondered how the hell he realized someone was in there. She didn't make too much noise, did she?

"Potter?"

"Hey Daphne," he said looking a little nervous. "So what were you doing in there?"

"Performing rituals to become a Dark Lady. What do you think I was doing? I was just practicing DADA spells."

"Oh," he said ruffling his already unruly hair trying to think about what to say. "Listen, I wanted to apologize about the other day. I was just nervous and kind of messed it up."

"Oh, it's alright," she said, "besides you would rather take a certain redhead out wouldn't you?"

He blushed, "what do you mean?"

"Oh, come one Potter, it's obvious how you look at her."

He sighed, "she's my best friend's sister..."

"Which should make it easier since they already consider you part of their family," she winked at him.

"She has a boyfriend..."

"Poor Dean Thomas being the second choice. What?" She asked when she saw Harry's questioning look, "she had been obsessed with you for years, I doubt she was able to let go so easily."

He bit his lip, "so there are no hard feelings?"

"None at all," she smiled, "our little date made me realize that we don't have much chemistry anyway. I should ask you however, how did you know I was here?"

He blushed furiously, "I just...eh, anyway, see you around Daphne." He turned around and basically ran away. Daphne shook her head. Harry Potter was an odd boy.

* * *

Tracey and Theo had met to practice charms but ended up doing way more entertaining things instead. Theo was kissing her neck, his arms around her waist. Tracey let out a soft moan and felt him smiling.

She raised her arms and wrapped them around his neck. Her shirt pulled upwards exposing some of her skin. Theo moved his hands slowly and started fondling her sides with his thumbs.

His hands continued to move upwards stroking her skin until they reached her ribs and she felt his fingers just under her bra.

She suddenly felt fear. She was not comfortable with someone touching her there but she didn't want to stop Theo. What if he got angry? What if he thought she was not worth his time?

He must have felt her stiffening because he stopped his motions and looked at her.

"Tracey?"

"Eh, I just don't feel ready for...that." He removed his hands to her relief.

"You need to speak up about these things, I'm not proficient at legilimancy...yet." He kissed her cheek. "next time I do something you don't like, just tell me ok?"

She smiled, "okay," and they continued kissing.

* * *

Blaise stood opposite Daphne with his wand pointed at her and smiling in a smug way. Daphne had every intention to wipe that smile away and destroy the young man's arrogance.

They had decided to use an empty classroom to practice dueling together. They put up some wards to minimize the chances of getting caught and moved the desks to a corner to create some space.

"First we bow," Blaise did so still grinning and Daphne followed.

"Ready to be taught who's in charge?" He said.

"You wish."

He casted a stunning spell that she easily blocked but more spells followed and Daphne started struggling. He was one of the best in class in nonverbal spells and his attacks were so quick that Daphne wondered whether the boys secretly practiced a lot of dueling that made him so good. She needed to create an opening otherwise she would have no chance to counterattack.

"Still no surrender babe?" He said while she barely blocked his stinging jinx, "and to think I'm going easy on you here." He threw a stunning spell and followed up with a cutting curse that came out stronger than he intended. She screamed and her arm started bleeding.

"Shit," he lowered his wand, "Daphne let me see that."

"Expelliarmus!" His wand flew in the air and she caught it triumphantly. He shook his head.

"That didn't count."

"It totally did!" She grabbed her arm that was still bleeding and moaned. She looked pale. "I guess I win."

He sighed, "why do I care about you so much?" He gently took her bleeding arm and casted the countercurse. "If you were anyone else you'd now be lying on the floor begging for mercy."

Daphne blushed while he conjured some bandages and wrapped them around her injury. He didn't let go of her hand when he finished. She looked up and stared into his eyes. His gaze move to her lips. She abruptly removed her hand from his and started walking away.

"Thanks for practicing with me Blaise," she ran out of the classroom.

* * *

Tracey stared at her Arithmacy exam results in surprise. This was the first time she had scored an Outstanding at anything. She turned and smiled to Theo who was sitting next to her. It looks like their studying together paid off. He winked at her.

When the lesson finished, they left the classroom holding hands when Tracey noticed Daphne who seemed to be in a very bad mood.

"Theo, do you mind if I talk to my friend for a bit?"

"Of course not, go ahead."

She approached Daphne who was frowning, "What's up girl? What's on your mind?"

"Nothing, it's just…" She hesitated, "come on lets take a walk, unless you want to be with your boyfriend of course."

"He's not my boyfriend…"

"Oh, you walk around holding hands and acting like love birds, of course he's your boyfriend." Tracey couldn't help but notice her bitter tone. The two girls started walking quietly.

"I dueled with Blaise and he kicked my ass you know," Daphne said.

"Yes, Theo told me they practice together sometimes. Don't tell that's why you're bitter!"

"No, it's not that.." Daphne sighed. "It's just…You know how Blaise, he never dates seriously."

"Yea, but what does it have to do…Oh,Daphne, don't tell me you fancy him!"

Daphne blushed. "I don't know, I used to think I hate him but I can't deny he's attractive. I think he's a good person overall despite who his mother might or might not be, but he acts like such a jerk sometimes."

"I think he's just teasing you, you know."

"And he never dates seriously, I don't want to be just another one of his girls."

They kept walking, lost in their thoughts for a few minutes. They reached the Slytherin Dungeon and Daphne muttered the password 'Ambition'.

They dropped onto one of the green couches inside the common room and ignored the first years that were playing noisy game of explosive snap nearby.

"You know after all these years, I still think it's kinda creepy that we live in the freaking dungeons," said Daphne and Tracey chuckled.

"Maybe you should ask him what his intentions are," said Tracey.

"Like he would tell me the truth."

"Why not? When did Zabini lie to you?"

"I don't know Tracey. I just don't know, I mean look at who his mother is."

"I thought you said he's not like his mother."

"Of course he isn't, but think about how he grew up. His father died and six of his stepfathers died. I hate to say this but realistically there has to be something wrong with him after all that,"

"Are you saying there's something wrong with Theo because of who his father is?" Asked Tracey angrily.

"No, but when you're raised by people like that, you're more likely to turn out wrong. It's statistically proven, Tracey, you can't deny it."

"So you won't give him a chance because of the rumors about his mother?"

"It's not that, I just…ugh.. I need to think." She rushed out of the common room.

Tracey sighed and went to find Theo.


	6. Chapter 6

Theodore Nott was standing outside of Severus Snape's office. His Head of the House had summoned him and Theo was thinking that whatever it was, it couldn't be anything good.

Snape was a death eater, his father was always sure about that. Theo always thought the headmaster was crazy for not only hiring Snape but also making him Head of Slytherin. Even if old Dumbledore trusted Snape, he should have still realized that making a biased bully like him Head of the Slytherin House which already had a bad reputation could hardly be a smart move. This was one of the reasons why Theo felt Dumbledore was either a fool or had his own agenda.

"Will you stand there like an idiot for long?" said Snape's voice and Theo jumped in surprise wondering if the Dark Arts master had wards outside his door to warn him when a student approached. He gathered his courage and opened the door.

"Professor," he greeted.

Snape nodded and pointed at one of the chairs. Theo sat down and looked at the professor who seemed in a worse mood than normal. Snape looked at him with an unreadable expression.

"We received a letter that your father is dead," he finally said.

Theo felt cold, it was almost like the feeling you had when dementors were nearby. He didn't know what to think. He was sure that he never loved his father, yet now he felt fear and sadness.

"How?"

"He was apparently ill for some time. Azkaban wasn't good to him."

 _If he's dead, where does that leave me,_ thought Theo. _They will expect me to join the Dark Lord like they did with Malfoy._ _Does Snape want to spy on me? See my reactions?_ He nervously strengthened his occlumency shields.

"During the summer you went to live with your aunt, is that correct?"

 _Why do you ask if you already know the answer?_

"Yes Sir, she's my only living relative."

"Then you're already aware it will be expected of you to join the Dark Lord sometime during the following summer?"

Theo shivered. His aunt was not a marked Death Eater, but a firm supporter of pureblood politics and very sympathetic to the Dark Lord's cause. She had spent the summer babbling about how filthy mudbloods will take over the world someday and have the purebloods killed, unless 'someone' did something about it and she would give him meaningful stares. She never openly told him that he had to join the Dark Lord though, not that he didn't expect it himself. He looked at Snape. What did the man expect him to say?

"I know there are certain expectations of me." He decided to tell the truth, for now.

"You must think carefully where you stand and alienate yourself from people who will drag you to the other side. Someone like you can't afford to stay uninvolved. If you planned to run away and hide on your own as soon as you turn 17, you will be seen as a traitor and the Dark Lord doesn't react mercifully to traitors and he always finds them unless they're protected by equally powerful wizards that is."

Theo stared at his professor. Was he threatening him? What was this vague talk about 'equally powerful wizards'? The only wizard that some people considered equal to the Dark Lord was Dumbledore. Theo wasn't sure he could trust Dumbledore, especially since the old man seemed to place all his hopes on a 16 year old boy like Potter.

"You know about the mission of Draco Malfoy, correct?"

Theo wondered if he was going to be interrogated now. "I know he has some sort of mission but I don't know what's he's doing," he said.

"Think about what I told you and I'm sorry about your father," Theo thought the man didn't sound sorry at all.

He walked out of the office and rushed out of the castle. Cold air hit his face and helped him calm down.

Theo didn't want to become a Death Eater. He was watching Draco Malfoy and he saw how the blond seemed to be slowly dying under the weight of his mission. He knew the Death Eaters were expected to both kill and be ready to die for the cause and Theo wasn't ready for either of these things.

He didn't even believe in the cause. His aunt was always saying muggleborns are dangerous animals who wouldn't hesitate to betray the wizarding world and his father always talked about how the power of purebloods was weakening because of 'the mudbloods and the blood traitors'. It all sounded like fearmongering to Theodore.

He thought about asking Albus Dumbledore for help, but he hesitated. Many on Dumbledore's side had died in both this war and the previous one. Weren't Potter's parents killed inside their own house? So much for Dumbledore being able to protect his own. He also wasn't sure he could trust the old man's judgement seeing how he had made someone like Snape Head of Slytherin and how he seemed to rely on teenagers to fight the Dark Lord.

No, you can only count on yourself, Theo had learned this very early in life. He didn't want to fight for the greater good, he didn't care about saving the world. There was nothing in the world that had convinced him it was worth giving up your life for. He didn't even have anyone he wanted to protect. Except Tracey perhaps.

He felt tiny hand wrapping around his waist and recognized the person's scent. With a smile he turned and faced Tracey hugging him. He placed his hand on her cheek.

"You're the only beautiful thing in the world, you know that?" He said and he meant it.

She blushed and smiled. Theo loved how innocent she always looked and how she allowed him to take care of her while taking care of him in return.

"If we were the only people in the world, hidden in some place far away, not having to deal with anything else but our life together, I would be happy. Would you be happy?"

"Yes," she said and kissed him softly, "does that mean we're officially in a relationship?"

Theo laughed at the simplicity of her words, "sure if that's what you want, but I hope you realize that I probably don't have much of a future."

She hesitated. "Will you become a Death Eater?"

"No."

"Then I don't care, I just want to be with you, I just want to support you. I trust you."

He kissed her. He thought he was probably a horrible human being for involving her in all of this. Someone decent would stay away from the girl to protect her. Then again, Theo never pretended to be decent.

* * *

Blaise Zabini was lying on his bed lazily conjuring some small birds like McGonagall had showed them the day before. He was alone in the room and was surprised when someone knocked on the door, this was not what of the boys would do.

He didn't bother standing up and moved his wand and opened the door with magic. He smirked when he saw Daphne Greengrass outside.

"Come join me pretty," he said patting his bed.

Daphne glared at him and sat on Theo's bed instead. She looked like she was trying to figure out what to say.

"Did you come to confess your undying love for me?" He said chuckling.

Daphne blushed, "I just…Wanted to talk. I'm sure you noticed that we are quite close this year," she started looking at her hands nervously, "I mean , do you like me?"

Blaise rolled his eyes, "it's not like I haven't been asking you out for whole years now."

"I just wanted to say that if you asked me out now, I wouldn't say no," she said _. Yes, this is the right move_ , she said to herself, _we'll take things slow, date a little and see how it goes._

"I'll remember it if I ever decide to ask you out again."

Daphne blushed, so this was his rejection? She started walking out of the room when she felt a hand grabbing her wrist and spinning her around. She felt his lips softly touching hers. She relaxed and returned the kiss wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

All was well until he suddenly started slowly pushing her towards the bed. She broke the kissed and stood up pushing him away.

"Will you meet me tonight in the classroom we practiced the other day. We need to talk but not here."

"Talk? Sure, sure," he said and tried to kiss her again but she pulled back again.

"After dinner?"

"Alright."

She turned towards the door when it suddenly opened and Draco Malfoy walked in looking at them surprised.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"What do you think we were doing?" Said Blaise smirking and Daphne punched him lightly on the shoulder.


	7. Chapter 7

Daphne was watching Blaise in the Great Hall, sitting next to some 7th year Slytherins, laughing and enjoying his dinner. He seemed so carefree. At one moment he turned and winked at her. She blushed at being caught staring and nodded.

Tracey and Theo hadn't appeared for dinner. They had probably gone to the kitchens to grab something there. Tracey had told her that Nott knew a lot of secret passages of the school as he was used to roam around alone, he had also discovered the kitchens back in their second year.

She noticed that Draco Malfoy was also not there. Daphne never had any love for Draco but she had started to feel worried about him. Most of his friends had abandoned him, even Pansy who used to be crazy about him. The boy rarely ate, missed his classes and constantly looked ill. She wondered whether he was really up to something or if his father's imprisonment had affected him more that she had thought.

Not feeling hungry anymore, she stood up and decided to take a walk. Perhaps it would help her clear out her thoughts. In about half an hour, she would meet with Blaise Zabini. Daphne could not deny that she liked the man, but she also knew that he wasn't known for being into committed relationships, something that Daphne always wanted. It was the main reason she had never dated Blaise in the past. Daphne would always say it was because he sometimes acted like a jerk, but the truth was she enjoyed his playful attitude, it could be both frustrating and amusing. Another thing was that his mother's reputation annoyed her more than she wanted to admit.

Feeling someone attacking her from behind, she screamed and grabbed her wand. She turned and saw Blaise Zabini laughing.

"You idiot!"

"What, I can't give you a hug? I thought we were friends," he said pouting mockingly.

"You startled me, I thought I was under attack," she said and she was smiling now, "so what are you doing here? Did you finish eating and come to torment me?"

"I couldn't let a fair maiden walk alone at night and I really wanted to be alone with you as early as possible," he put his hands on her waist and Daphne felt like the temperature had risen a lot. She was never the blushing type, what was wrong with her?

"Ehm, l-lets go sit somewhere, we have to talk."

She turned and opened one door nearby only to see Ron Weasley and Lavender Brown in a pretty awkward position. Lavender screamed.

"Oh, I'm so, so sorry," Daphne turned red as a tomato and quickly closed the door.

Blaise wrapped his arm around her shoulders, "come , I know a place."

He led her to the fifth floor and gave the password 'Unicorn' to a statue. A secret door opened and revealed a large room with a pool. "This is the prefect's bathroom," he told her , "being friends with Malfoy has its benefits."

She had to admit the prefect's bathroom looked pretty luxurious. Even the bath taps were golden and decorated with jewels.

"It was built by Phineas Nigellus Black, the Slytherin headmaster," said Blaise.

"Well, that explains everything," it was after all well-known many members of their house had a preference for extravagant decorations.

"Come lets have a bath."

"Really now?"

"Nothing I haven't seen before," he said smirking. Daphne sighed. She knew he was talking about that summer they had accidentally met in Italy while she and her parents were on holidays there. She wore a muggle bikini swimming suit back then and he kept teasing her about it for at least a year. Daphne wanted to argue but she was also really curious about the bath. Wanting to surprise him, she started undressing.

"Woah, you're actually going to do it," he chuckled, "very well…"

She removed the robes, the shirt and the pants she was wearing and was now in a tank top and boxer shorts. She kneeled and started playing with the bath taps. Blaise was watching her biting his lips. He shrugged and started removing clothes too.

They dove into the pool and started relaxing in the hot water. Blaise soon hugged her from behind and started kissing her neck.

"Slow down there."

"You can't strip in front of me like that and get away with it," he said. She turned and started kissing him. She had wanted them to talk, but the hot bath, the perfumes and Blaise's shirtless body kept her mind off anything else.

"I heard you're interested in my mother," he said suddenly and Daphne turned pale.

"W-what? Why do you say that?"

"I would appreciate it if you didn't discuss my family matters in front of a bunch of first years," he said a bit coldly.

"Oh, when I was talking to Tracey, there were some first years nearby. I'm sorry Blaise, I didn't realize they were listening." She felt very embarrassed, how could she make such a mistake.

"One of the first years approached me, he thought he could earn my favor if he gave me this 'information'. Slytherin through and through I guess," he said smiling a little bitterly.

"I'm really sorry Blaise, I don't know what else to say."

"Is that why you always turned me down in the past?" He said trying to sound indifferent.

"Not exactly," she decided to tell the truth, she owed it to him, "I must admit your mother's reputation didn't help, but the main reason was that you're too much of a player."

"Nothing wrong with a bit of fun."

"I agree, but it's not what I want."

"Would you prefer a white knight in shining armor who would take your hand like this," he took it, "and tell you that he only went after other women because he couldn't have you?"

"I assume that's the opposite of what you would do?"

"Pretty much yes."

"No, I quite like you the way you are, but if you're so against anything serious, please say so."

"I'm not against it," he said, "No really I'm not," he smiled at her glaring. "Lets just not rash things. Lets have some fun and we'll see how it goes."

"When you say we should have some fun," she sighed, "you know I've never…If you mean intercourse, I've never…"

"Intercourse? Merlin's sake Daphne, only my grandmother calls it this way, but don't worry I'm not going to push you. I know you'll want it on your own after a few days with me." She punched him very lightly.

"You're so arrogant."

"But you like me."

"Yes," she admitted

"You know, you seriously hurt me with what you said about mother, will you give me a kiss to make me feel better?"

"This won't work on me, I'll make you feel better because I want to." He chuckled and they kissed.

After many failed attempts to persuade her to remove the tank top, they got out of the bath and used drying spells on their clothes. They sat on one of the benches next to the pool and Blaise lied down and rested his head on Daphne's lap. He had his eyes closed and looked peaceful. Daphne thought he was beautiful.

"She doesn't deliberately kill them," she heard him say suddenly. She didn't speak.

"Everyone thinks she's some evil mastermind, maneater, but it's not like that. She was cursed when she was young so that all men who love her will end up dying tragically. We have tried every single cursebreaker, we have searched everywhere for a solution, but it's all for nothing. Instead of accepting it and doing the responsible thing, she keeps marrying hoping that it will be better next time. She and the men who marry her are unbelievable," he said. "She does kill them, but it's not her intention, I'm sure."

Daphne thought something didn't add up with this story and wondered if Estella Zabini was taking advantage of the curse to obtain the fortunes of the wealthy men, but decided to not say anything.

"She was about to marry Nott's father, you know. It was during our fourth year, before the Dark Lord returned. I used to wonder who would off the other first in such a marriage."

She tried to make some sense of these words. Her eyes widened, "You mean…Nott's father…"

"It's just a hypothesis of mine," he admitted, "Nott obviously doesn't talk too much about himself, but everyone knows his mother died under mysterious circumstances. There was a huge scandal about it some years ago."

"She was killed by a werewolf, right?"

"Yes, but here this is where it gets interesting. The werewolf was Fenrir Greyback, known supporter of the Dark Lord. The problem is Greyback almost never targets purebloods and this made some people suspicious."

"Nott's father is a Death Eater," she exclaimed, "you don't think he told Greyback…No, it's not possible."

"I wouldn't ask Nott about it, if I were you. I doubt he knows himself what exactly happened and his mother always seemed like a sensitive issue for him. From what I've heard, he found her right before she was about die, all bloody and face disfigured. It must have been horrible for him. However, you must admit there is something suspicious about it."

Daphne imagined for a moment seeing her own mother like this. She shuddered. Blaise stood up and kissed her on the forehead, then the cheek, then her lips.

"Lets return to the dungeons," he said offering her his hand, "don't worry I know my way around Filch."

"I assume it's because being out at night is a habit for you?" She said trying to sound disapproving, but she only ended up smiling.

"You guessed it Princess." She took his hand and let him lead her out.

* * *

Tracey watched her teammates cheering after their victory against Ravenclaw. After Malfoy officially quit the team , the captain approached her and made her try out for seeker. It was proven that she was quite better than Harper so she got the position.

She hadn't managed to catch the snitch that game, after all Cho Chang was a more experienced player. However, she was quite proud of some of her plays. She managed to prevent Chang twice from catching the snitch early, something that allowed Vaisey to completely dominate the Ravenclaw chasers and keeper. When Chang finally ended the game, Slytherin had already scored so many points that they won anyway.

Bletchley was so happy that he actually hugged her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. She blushed furiously hoping that Theo hadn't seen that.

Daphne came to congratulate her too, she gave her a hug and whispered in her ear "Blaise said that was some amazing flying you did. Bravo girl! Hopefully you will gain some confidence after this."

Theo was waiting her outside the locker rooms. She rushed and hugged him. "I can't believe we won!"

"You did some great flying there."

"Their beaters seemed to only focus me. I was afraid that second bludger from Belby would hit me but I barely managed to dodge. Did you see when I blocked Chang's way while she was about to dive for the snitch?"

He was quietly listening to her while she was analyzing the game only nodding when needed. They sat down at their usual spot near the lake. Tracey hugged him and rested her head on his shoulder.

"When I'm with you," she said, "it feels like home."

Theo bit his lips. "Tracey, I might go into hiding when this school year ends. You know it right?"

"Yes and I will follow you everywhere, I thought we had clarified that," she said kissing his cheek.

Why did she have to be so wonderful? She was loyal, innocent, supportive, everything Theo ever wanted in a woman. He sometimes hated himself for ruining something so beautiful.

"Listen," he said ,"if we're going to do this, we need to stop being together in public. We'll pretend we broke up and now hate each other. We'll only meet in secret. It's the only way. People shouldn't suspect we'll run way together so that they won't target your family."

"I understand," she said.

"What will your family say about this?"

She hesitated, "they will not be happy, but I hope they will eventually understand. I love you and need to be on your side."

"You're willing to throw away everything for me?" He deliberately ignored that she said she loved him, "we've only been dating for a few months. Are you sure, you're not just infatuated because I'm the first man who payed attention to you?"

"I've been in love with you for years," she admitted ,"you probably didn't know I existed, but I have been watching you for years. I noticed how sad you were after what happened to your mother or how hurt you looked when your father was arrested. I noticed how you were always alone with barely any friends, always reading some book. I always wanted to learn more about you and I always admired how clever and handsome you were."

"Still you shouldn't throw away your life for someone else," he said now feeling a bit flattered that she paid so much attention to him over the years.

"It's my decision and I'm not throwing away my life. I'll make sure we'll survive. I'll protect you."

He kissed her softly. "You need to learn to protect yourself first. We'll practice some dueling together."

"By the way what do you think Malfoy is doing? Quitting the Quidditch team seems so out of character for him. He's been acting weirdly since the year started."

He frowned, "he has some quest from the Dark Lord I think."

"The Dark Lord? The Dark Lord gave a quest to Malfoy?" She gasped," but that could be dangerous. Shouldn't we do something about it?"

"What can we do? It's not like we have any proof."

"Shouldn't we inform Dumbledore?"

"What are we going to tell him? That we 'think' Malfoy 'might' be up to something?"

"Yes, it's worth a try. Dumbledore might figure it out."

"You put too much trust on Dumbledore. I personally stopped looking up to him when I learned that he trusts someone like Snape."

"Nonsense, Dumbledore is not stupid, if he trusts Snape he must have his reasons. Come on, we'll just send an anonymous letter. What do you say?"

He sighed, "very well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try. Besides, I'm very curious to learn what the pompous blond git is up to this time."

After about half an hour they had prepared a note saying that they had good reasons to believe Malfoy was working for the Dark Lord and was planning something. Theo put a spell on the parchment to change Tracey's handwriting and make it unrecognizable. He didn't want to draw attention to Tracey when Snape and Dumbledore were so close.

They chose one of the school's owls and sent the message to the headmaster. Tracey hugged him excitedly and gave him a kiss while they were watching the owl fly away.


	8. Chapter 8

Tracey couldn't get rid of her grin when she dropped onto her bed, thinking about the time she spent with Theo. An image of him being in bed with her appeared in her head. She fantasized about Theo pinning her down, kissing her passionately while removing her clothing. Her cheeks turned red.

To keep her mind occupied, she grabbed her notebook and looked at her old list of goals. She crossed out 'Get a boyfriend' and 'Improve your grades'. She hesitated a bit thinking about how much her appearance has improved and decided this goal was achieved as well. She had lost a lot of weight mainly because of Quidditch practice. She was certainly still chubby but not like she used to be. Her hair and face also looked healthier than ever. It seemed that exercise, a healthy diet and being in love worked wonders for your appearance.

Daphne entered the room, "You're grinning like a maniac," she informed her, "congratulations again about the Quidditch match, by the way. Blaise explained to me what you did because I swear I will never understand that game or its appeal."

"Are you and Blaise together now?"

Daphne frowned. "Sort of, but not really. I'm going to meet him sometime during the holidays. We should arrange to meet sometime too."

"I'm not going home this time. Theo and I will stay."

Daphne sat next to her and kissed her friend's forehead.

"Your parents don't know you date him, do they?"

Tracey shook her head, "They told me to stay away from these families, they don't want to get themselves involved in the war." She sighed, "nevertheless, I'm sure it will be fun to have Slytherin all for yourself."

"Have you ever thought about, you know, having sex with him?"

Tracey bit her lips, "I have thought about it, certainly, but I'm not quite ready yet. I don't know Daphne, the thought is a bit scary. Have you ever done it with Blaise?"

"No and I don't want to do it if's it's just casual, I want it to mean something. I'm not sure Blaise wants the same," she said a little bitterly.

"I think his mother has just given him an unhealthy, twisted view of how relationships are like."

"I believe you're right, but we need to sort things out. We can't just ignore the problem anymore. Tracey, will you at least write to me? I'm going to go mad if I spend the whole holidays with my little sister."

"Can't help but think about me, huh?" a smirking Astoria Greengrass stepped into the room to her older sister's great surprise.

"Astoria, how many times will I have to tell you, you can't come here without knocking!" barked Daphne. Astoria sighed and knocked on the door behind her.

"What do you want?" asked Daphne looking defeated.

"Can't I just come visit my beloved sister?" she dropped onto Daphne's bed not even bothering to take off her shoes, grabbed a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans, from Milicent's bed and started munching.

"Your manners are as horrible as always, I can't believe we were raised by the same parents."

"I came to tell you something is wrong with my baby."

"Your baby?" Tracey was now confused. "Astoria, don't tell me you're pregnant!"

The sisters couldn't help but laugh. "You don't know it, do you? My dear little sister has decided she loves Draco Malfoy. Why, I cannot understand. She hasn't even talked to him. She keeps calling him her baby and her dragon," Daphne pretended to vomit and Astoria threw a couple of beans at her.

"I'm telling you, he has a good side deep down..."

"Very, very deep down."

"I heard my dearest dragon crying today," said Astoria now looking serious, "I was at Myrtle's bathroom and he was talking to the ghost girl. He told her he felt all alone. I wanted to get out of the bathroom stall and comfort him but I didn't want to make him embarrassed."

"Surprisingly thoughtful of you," said Daphne.

"Astoria, are you sure it was him? What else did you hear?" asked Tracey.

"He said something he was never going to make it in time. Do you know what he was talking about?"

"He's definitely up to something. Tori, I want you to stay away from him."

"Like you can tell me what to do," Astoria scoffed.

"If you don't stay away I'm going to tell dad."

Tori's eyes widened, "you wouldn't!" Daphne smirked. Their father was the only one who could restrain the little girl and prevent her from going completely wild.

"Come little sister, I will help you pack. We're leaving early in the morning for Christmas."

The sisters left (Tori was mumbling something about how much she would prefer to stay at Hogwarts with her beloved dragon) allowing Tracey to think about this new information.

* * *

"Petrificus Totalus!"

"Protego!"

Theodore smiled and stepped aside to dodge her spell. "You'll have to show me something more than that, pretty."

"Hey, I didn't spend most of my time practicing dueling like you," said Tracey focusing on throwing him a non-verbal stunner.

Theodore, Tracey and Draco Malfoy were the only Slytherins who stayed at school for the holidays. Draco disappeared most of the time and only showed up for meals (sometimes not even then). They had tried manipulating Malfoy into telling them what he was doing, but he only told them something so rude he would never dare utter in front of his mother.

Tracey couldn't understand how couldn't everyone see Draco was up to something. It was completely out of character for him to stay behind for the holidays (something he would previously mockingly say was only for those who were not wanted at home). Did Dumbledore really ignore her note?

Despite her anxiety about Malfoy, spending time alone with Theo was always great. They practiced together, she taught him poker (and he showed great interest in the muggle card game) and they played a lot of daring games of sexual nature. Theo had a quite dominant nature that she enjoyed. She had discovered that she was especially fond of getting blindfolded something that heightened her senses.

She was lying on the floor panting after dancing around to dodge a series of nasty jinxes from Theo. He offered his hand to help her get up.

"Teddy…" she said softly.

"Don't call me that," he sat down and took her on his lap.

She snuggled up against him. Everything with him felt so simple, so calm. She had nothing to worry about. She gathered her courage.

"Theo…I've been thinking about it and I think I want us to…go all the way, have sex," she whispered.

He touched her face. His hazel eyes met her dark brown ones. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, but I don't know how to go with it. I was hoping you would show me," she said staring at his lips and her cheeks turning rosy.

He kissed her passionately and locked the door with a wave of his wand. They would have the dormitory for themselves that night.

* * *

Theo was staring at the sleeping witch next to him. He sometimes couldn't believe how fortunate he was for having something so beautiful, so innocent. He hadn't realized before how much he craved for some innocence in his life.

The whole thing had gone surprisingly well, especially since Theo was not as experienced as he let her believe. He had a girlfriend during the previous year but they hadn't done much other than snogging. He had only had sex with that prostitute when he was fourteen after his father insisted that it was tradition for pureblood wizards to have their first intercourse with an experienced woman. He shuddered at the thought of his father.

He got up after carefully covering Tracey with the blanket and started dressing himself. He was rather hungry and had decided to stop by the kitchens. The house elves would not mind serving him at this late hour.

Walking out of the common room he bumped into the annoying blond.

"You're not sleeping in our room tonight," he announced.

"What?" Draco Malfoy looked at him with disdain.

"I said, you're not sleeping in our room. Tracey is there and I don't want you anywhere near her. Sleep on the couch, I don't care."

"If you think you're going to stop me from sleeping in my room because your half-blood bitch is there…"

"I warded the door, you're not stepping inside that room."

"Someone will have to remind you your place Nott. Maybe you have forgotten who I am and who my father is."

"Your father is locked up and you finally need to learn some humility. I don't know what you're up to but if you put Tracey in danger in any way, I swear I will destroy you."

Malfoy's eyes narrowed and he started shaking in anger. He threw a non-verbal spell at Theo but it was blocked effortlessly. Theo threw a series of stunners in return and Malfoy had to jump away to dodge after his shield got shattered. The blond casted another non-verbal that Theo recognized as the Imperius.

"How low you have fallen Malfoy," he blocked the spell ,"daddy must be proud."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Malfoy's face was red, "YOUR OWN FATHER WAS A DEATH EATER YOU BLOOD-TRAITOR SHIT."

"The difference between me and you Malfoy is that I never gave a fuck about what my piece of shit of a father thought about me."

Malfoy was now so infuriated that he jumped on Theo hitting him wherever he could with his fists, not even bothering with magic.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Severus Snape used a spell to separate the two teenagers and create a barrier between them. "Explain!"

"Malfoy started cursing me with the Unforgivables after I called him out," said Theo simply.

Malfoy scoffed ,"such a lie, I didn't use the Unforgivables Sir. That Nott told me I couldn't sleep in my own room because his girlfriend is there and then taunted me about my father."

"That behavior is unacceptable. I don't want to see you losing your temper again like a bunch of Gryffindors."

Theo couldn't help but snort. It was so hypocritical of Snape to accuse someone of letting their emotions get the better of them when he himself always lost it when it came to Potter.

"I don't want my Slytherins to act like mindless apes. Mr. Nott, wake up Miss Davis and escort her to the room immediately. Draco stay, I want to talk to you."

"I just want to sleep, can't we leave it for another time," Draco groaned.

"No we will talk now. Mr. Nott get out of my sight before you get detention for the rest of the year."

Theo didn't need to be told twice. He disappeared leaving Snape and a furious Malfoy behind. Draco and Snape seemed to be on the same team, but Theo had decided to do everything in his power to not let the pompous git have it his way.


	9. Chapter 9 (Blaise and Daphne)

Daphne and Blaise spent the morning of Christmas Eve strolling in the Diagon Alley. Most of the shops had unfortunately closed but Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes was always open and quite busy. Blaise had suggested they go in too but there was no way Daphne would step into a joke shop (as if! This sounded like the kind of place Astoria would like.) They finally decided to stay in The Leaky Cauldron for a meal. Daphne picked some warm soup and butterbeer. Exactly what she needed for such a cold day.

"Those Weasleys are doing well," commented Blaise ,"I heard they're planning on expanding their business to Hogsmeade as well."

"Poor Zonko!"

"We also know how mischievous they can be. I wonder how they didn't end up in our House, sweetie. They're certainly ambitious and sneaky enough."

"They once turned Malfoy's hair red!"

"I remember! He was sulking for weeks after that," Blaise chuckled.

"Some things they did were pretty awful though. Did you hear what happened to Montague?"

He shook his head, "Never liked this Montague bloke, but yea it was pretty awful. The dude even missed his NEWT exams, yet the twins faced no consequences."

"Even if it wasn't their intention to take things so far, they still acted very recklessly."

"Indeed, hey did you ever hear about what happened with that vanishing cabinet?"

"No idea. Dumbledore must have had it removed. Hey, I've been meaning to ask you. Did-did you have any great ambitions that got you sorted into the Slytherin House?"

He thought about it for a bit. "Hmm, I suppose I always wanted to take over my family's business, you know. My mother's family has been into marketing for generations, yet my mother never cared for it. I have some good ideas about how to expand it though. What about you Daphne? I never had you for the ambitious type."

Daphne blushed a bit, "I'll tell you, but don't laugh. When I was eleven I really wanted to become the first female minister of magic."

He actually had the nerve to laugh. Daphne groaned and smacked his shoulder lightly.

"Don't be an asshole. I still want to get involved in politics. I'll try to take my father's seat in Wizengamot if he ever retires."

"If it makes you feel better babe, I think you would make a better minister than Fudge."

"I suppose this is a compliment coming from someone like you."

"What can I say, you bring out my gentleman side."

She snorted. They ate their meals in silence for a few minutes and she took her time to look around. The only others in the pub were a girl she recognized as Cho Chang the Ravenclaw seeker and one of her friends who had a weird scar in her forehead, Tom the barman and a man who had his face covered. She frowned . With the civil war going on, people who hid their identities made her suspicious. What was this man hiding?

There was a sudden loud bang and the nearby window shattered into pieces. Blaise had already stood up with his wand in hand.

Masked figures entered from the broken window and the customers of The Leaky Cauldron felt their wands flying away from them. The Death Eaters had casted multiple disarming spells. Daphne froze in fear. She started counting the enemies, 1,2,3…7 of them had entered the pub and she had lost her main weapon, her wand.

"Be good beautiful and we won't harm you," told her one of the Death Eaters noticing her fear, "although I can't vouch for Greyback over there."

Several of the masked men chuckled. One of them turned his attention towards the man with the covered face Daphne had noticed before. "You! Show your face!" but the man seemed unwilling to cooperate. He shoved his hand into his pocket and suddenly disappeared.

"What the fuck? How did he disapparate? I thought you idiots set up wards?"

"He didn't apparate," said another one of the Death Eaters, "he must have been carrying a portkey."

"Set up anti-portkey wards now!" Another one of the Death Eaters pointed his wand at the door double-locking it.

Some of the terrorists looked uneasy. "Do you think he'll alert the aurors?"

"It doesn't matter now, we're not leaving until we do our job." He turned towards the Ravenclaw girls who were shaking violently and removed his mask. Daphne gasped, the man was definitely Rodolphus Lestrange, she had seen his face many times on the newspaper.

Lestrange sat next to the scarred girl who whimpered when he wrapped his arm around her. "Marietta Edgecomb, right?"

She started sobbing and refused to look at him.

"I'm really sorry sweetie, it's not your fault that your parents are idiots but we must teach them a lesson, right? They can't go around bad-mouthing us and expect no consequences. How about this? Follow us peacefully and we won't hurt you…a lot."

There was a loud explosion and the door was destroyed. A talk black man entered together with their old Professor Lupin and the man with the covered face from before.

Rodolphus pointed his wand at Marietta's neck. " So I suppose the Order was aware of our plan to attack this place otherwise they wouldn't have sent their little spy here? Who told you?"

"I would let the girl go if I were you Lestrange," said the black man ignoring the question, "the aurors are on their way. Surrender your wands, nobody wants this to turn into a massacre."

"Are you sure?" said another one of the Death Eaters removing his own mask. Daphne shuddered. This horrible face belonged to Fenrir Greyback, the werewolf who killed Theodore's mother.

"If this isn't little Remus Lupin," said Greyback with a crazy, sadistic expression, "is your beloved daddy still alive? Tell him I send my regards. That is if you get out of here in one piece," he laughed.

"You made a mistake when you set up anti-apparition wards, trapping yourselves in here," said Lupin who was now very pale. "Surrender! The ministry aurors will be coming at any time."

"I guess daddy didn't teach you to count after all," said Greyback ,"there are three of you and seven of us. You will all die and we'll be taking the girl and maybe the other girls too," he leered at Daphne.

Some of the Death Eaters sent curses towards the members of the Order, but the black man quickly created a shield and blocked them all. Greyback touched Daphne's neck and his long, disgusting nails pierced her skin drawing blood.

"Drop your wands or this little bitch dies," he yelled smirking.

It all happened in a few seconds. Blaise kicked Greyback hard on the back and took advantage of the werewolf's surprise to grab Daphne and his wand. He and Daphne fell to the floor to dodge the oncoming curses while he blindly sent a few stunning spells of his own towards the Death Eaters.

"Fuuuck you little shit," Greyback yelped in pain and barely dodge the Stupefy that Blaise threw at him. "I will learn your name and…"

But he couldn't finish his sentence. Remus Lupin and the other two members of the Order had taken advantage of the commotion and sent several stunners towards the Death Eaters one of which hit Greyback on the chest. Cho Chang managed to free her friend from Lestrange's grasp, as he was now too busy fighting and hugged her protectively.

"LESTRANGE! WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!" shouted one of the masked men.

"Stand back," said Rodulphus now doing some complicated movements with his wand. Blaise recognized the dark spell.

"NO! DON'T LET HIM!" he shouted desperately, but it was too late. There was a deafening explosion and the walls of the pub were destroyed. The Death Eaters were prepared for it and had their shields up but the same couldn't be said about the others.

Daphne felt a strong pain on her head and she momentarily lost vision. She started coughing and touched the pained spot on her head. She was bleeding. She looked around.

The Death Eaters were nowhere to be found. Having pretty much destroyed the entire pub and thus having creating an escape route they decided to make a run for it, probably not wanting to risk an encounter with the aurors. Some of them must have taken Greyback's stunned body with them too.

"Blaise?" she asked nervously searching him. "BLAISE?"

"I'm here baby," Blaise Zabini's leg was lying a few metres away from her. His leg was trapped under rubble. He moved the stolen wand to free himself.

"You're bleeding," she said, "give it to me, I know a good healing spell."

She took the wand and started healing his leg. Remus Lupin was taking care of Tom the barman who seemed severely injured as his whole face was covered in blood. Marietta and Cho were still hugging and crying together. The tall black man approached them.

"Are you injured girls? I am Shacklebolt ,an auror, more aurors are on their way."

"W-why, h-how?" whimpered Marietta.

"Your parents made some statements about the Dark Lord, I'm sure you have heard about that?" Marietta nodded , "Well, our source told us the Death Eaters might be coming after you for revenge, so we had Mr. Diggle here watching you, I'm sorry, we didn't inform you earlier, I hope you realize that there was a need for secrecy to protect our source."

Daphne was feeling nauseous. Blaise put his hand on her head and examined her injuries. "You're losing a lot of blood," he said, "give it to me," he took the wand back and copied the spell she did before.

"I stopped the bleeding," he said nervously. "do you still feel the pain?"

"A little," she said resting her head on his shoulder.

"Are you guys alright?" asked Shacklebolt.

"I just wish to go home," said Daphne.

"If you can't apparate, I would suggest to wait here a few minutes since the fireplace got destroyed. The healers are coming anyway, they might need to take a look at you."

"We knew they would make a move, but I still can't believe they attacked this place in the middle of the day," said the man named Diggle who had removed the cloth covering his face to tie it around his injured arm.

"We mustn't underestimate the enemy's unpredictability," said Shacklebolt as he was looking at his watch ,"damn the ministry is useless, you can't rely on them"

"Said the man who works for the Ministry."

Several minutes passed until the aurors and the healers finally arrived. It was decided that Tom should be moved to St Mungo's immediately. One auror named Dawlish asked Marietta several questions including "where she got this ugly scar." The poor girl looked like she was about to cry.

"It wasn't the Death Eaters, it's j-just a scar I got from a curse. The healers couldn't get rid of it," she blushed.

"I have spent years dealing with cursebreakers if you want I can give you some addresses," whispered Blaise in her ear.

"R-really?" Marietta looked hopeful.

"Yes, I will send them to you via owl, now excuse me gentlemen, will you give us permission for a portkey to finally go home?"

"No, I need to ask you some questions," said Dawlish, "your names?"

"Blaise Zabini and Daphne Greengrass," said Blaise impatiently showing the auror his ring with the Zabini emblem.

"Greengrass…That's a traditional Slytherin family. Correct me if I'm wrong Miss Greengrass but didn't your father make some anti-muggle statements some years ago."

Daphne bit her lips uneasily, "my father has his opinions, but he would never support the D-Deather Eaters," she whispered.

"Never huh?" Dawlish didn't look convinced. "Kingsley I say we take the Slytherins to the Ministry for interrogation."

"No! We're tired and we're going home, you can't arrest us with no evidence," Blaise gritted his teeth.

Dawlish was probably ready to start shouting that he could do whatever he wanted but Shacklebolt put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"That's enough, the kids went through a lot today lets arrange a portkey to send them home. If you have suspicions about Menelaus Greengrass, we can discuss them with him but I doubt you'll get much out of it."

They took a portkey and both arrived at the Zabini mansion. Daphne didn't feel like facing her parents and Astoria yet and instead sent them a quick note saying that she was okay and that she was with a friend. Her parents would probably get mad that she didn't return home after what happened but she decided she would deal with the problem later.

"I feel like I need a bath," she said dropping onto one of the couches.

"Feel free, our bathroom is probably more luxurious than Phineas Nigellus' one" said Blaise snapping his fingers to summon his house elf.

"Shelly bring this lady something warm to drink and please arrange it so that she can have a bath."

"Yes master, do you need medical care master?" the house elf noticed the blood on Blaise's clothes.

"No Shelly, but take a look at Daphne."

"I'm fine, I just need some rest. Blaise, come here please I need you next to me."

"You are dismissed," said Blaise and the elf disappeared with a loud noise. He sat next to Daphne and took her in his arms. She had her eyes closed.

"We lost our wands."

"There is always Gregorovich."

"I can't believe someone would be so horrible," she said.

"Gregorovich?" he teased.

"The Death Eaters," she shivered and he hugged her tightly. "How can someone support them?"

He didn't know how to answer that.

A few minutes later she was asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

Menelaus and Helen Greengrass never celebrated Christmas the traditional way as they both didn't believe in the Christian deity. However, on the day of Christmas the whole family gathered to dine together. It was a rare occurence to them to spend time together as family as father Greengrass was almost always busy with his work.

Astoria thought it was funny to turn Daphne's spaghetti into worms and then blame it on "accidental magic". Daphne was swearing under her breath while Astoria was chuckling. Helen Greengrass berated her younger daughter a bit before going to get another plate. The whole time Menelaus hadn't turn his eyes away from the document he was studying while enjoying his meal.

"Father didn't we say we would spend some time together? Can't you work when we finish our meal?" said Daphne visibly annoyed.

Asotria's eyes widened in shock. Nobody in the family ever dared to question Father Greengrass. The man was not cruel but he could certainly be ruthless and intimidating.

He raised his eyes for the first time that day and looked as his older daughter coldly. She prepared herself for the worst.

"Very well," he said tapping his fingers on the table, "lets discuss like family. Daphne it has come to my attention that you're close to the son of Estella Zabini, so close that after yesterday's events you actually went to his house instead of coming straight to your family."

She swallowed. She had begged her mother to not say anything to him about Blaise.

"Yes, we're friends, that's all," she said trying to hide her anxiety.

"You're aware that his mother is a suspected murderer and you still hang out with him," he stated.

"She's not a murderer, there is some kind of curse..."

"The same old fairy tale many murderers use," said father sneering, "I'm not a murderer, I was cursed, I'm not a murderer, I was under the Imperius. All murderers use the same excuses."

"I don't care about his mother," said Daphne who was starting to sweat under her father's gaze, "murderer or not, Blaise is nothing like her."

"The Greengrass is a respectable ancient and noble house," he said coldly, "I have already taken the appropriate measures to prevent my daughter from shaming us all."

She felt her heart sinking, "what?"

"That boy will not bother you again," he said ,"and I don't want you near him or Malfoy's and Nott's sons. They were stupid enough to join a terrorist group and ruin their families' name. I will not allow my daughter to go down the same road."

"Tell me Father," she was shaking from rage now, "how come you didn't go down the same road with your old friends Lucius Malfoy and Nott? You always shared the same ideas as them."

Astoria gasped and pinched her sister but Daphne didn't care. She would tell him what she thought, it was now or never.

Menelaus didn't seem angry. He was a man that rarely gave in to his emotions.

"I am not surprised you cannot comprehend the reasons I chose to not align myself with a dangerous criminal," his eyes flashed dangerously, "you're so much like your aunt, so naive. Thinking that you can change people..."

"What do you mean? What aunt?" she had never heard of having an aunt before.

"My younger sister of course," he stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "she married that idiot Nott, thinking she could change him, thinking there was good in him. You know how she ended up don't you? Brutally killed by a werewolf probably on the orders of her own husband.

"Theodore Nott's mother is my aunt?" it couldn't be possible, "how? I've never heard any of it before."

"I wouldn't have you and your sister being near a potential terrorist of course." Daphne could swear there was a hint of sadness in his eyes, "me and my sister grew apart when she chose to stay with that man. She made her own choices and suffered from them. My duty as your father is to protect you from making the same mistakes."

She dashed out of the room and slammed the door. She couldn't bare to listen leaned against the wall and tried not to cry.

...

She heard footsteps and then someone knocking on the door. For perhaps the first time in her life, she wished it was Astoria as she couldn't speak to her parents in the state she was in.

She stayed silent pretending to be asleep, but her mother opened the door anyway and came to sit next to her on the bed.

"I know you're not asleep, silly girl," the woman chuckled. Daphne frowned and slowly turned to look at her mother.

"Look mom, I'm so-"

"Astoria told me what happened during dinner," Helen interrupted, "Daphne, I know you're probably thinking the worst of your father right now but I can assure you he only wants to protect you."

"Our family has a bad reputation because of him," said Daphne, "those aurors yesterday...they wanted to interrogate me simply because father is...anti-muggle. How can he judge me when he..."

"Now Daphne how can you say such a thing," Helen's eyes widened and she looked nervous, "your father is not anti-muggle. He's simply against giving special rights to muggleborns."

"They still view him suspiciously because of it," said Daphne.

"That's because many people view things as black and white. Your father is misunderstood because he spoke against giving muggleborns special privileges in the past. I can tell you that your father never sympathised with the D-Death Eaters and I don't want to hear you say it ever again."

"What kind of privileges were they talking about?"

"There have been several suggestions over the years that the standards for OWLs and NEWTs should be lowered for muggleborns because they're disadvantaged as they were not born in the magical world. Many voted against it and it didn't pass, but your father particularly was a loud anti-special treatment advocate and got a bad name because of it," her mother explained.

"Listen mother, I understand that father has his reasons," she thought about her aunts fate and bit her lips, "but Blaise and Theodore are my friends. It's not their fault they were born in certain families. If nobody gives them a chance, they'll never be able to rutn any different."

"My dear girl, I didn't know you cared so much about saving people. Perhaps you should have been a Gryffindor," said mother sarcastically.

Daphne blushed, "it's not just about them, it's about me. They're my friends and I trust them. If I stopped talking to anyone whose family has a bad reputation, I would become estranged with half of the people in my House."

"Maybe it was a mistake to encourage you to be in Slytherin," said Helen looking a little sad, "me and your father were both there but the House didn't carry nearly as much of a stigma back then."

"It wouldn't matter. I didn't ask the Sorting Hat to put me there, it just did _," and I'm glad it did because I got to make many wonderful friends_ , she thought to herself.

"The point is that your father is right, you must alienate yourself from these people. Our family will remain neutral during this crisis."

"But Blaise Zabini has nothing to do with the war. His mother is not a Death Eater!"

"Don't yell and yes I know his mother is not a Death Eater, she's just a slag and a suspected murderer. He's right to not want you anywhere near her."

"How can you say that? Have you ever met her?"

"Yes, I have met her," said Helen with disdain, "we were together in school and I can tell you the woman was always a slag. The less said about her the better."

"But...Blaise is nothing like that, why can't I be with him?"

"The boy is a bad influence. I have heard about him, he has quite a reputation at school for being a manwhore, doesn't he? Daphne, trust me nothing good ever comes out of these people."

"Why can't he be trusted? Because he likes sex? Because he's experienced? Is that a crime now?"

"Daphne!" her mother's eyes widened, "don't tell me you have...you have..."

"I haven't had sex if that's what you're so worried about..."

Her mother looked relieved. "Of course you haven't, you know very well Daphne that no respectable pureblood would marry you if you were not a virgin," she looked at her daughter strictly, "you want to have a respectable marriage, don't you Daphne?"

 _Actually, I couldn't care less_ , thought Daphne to herself, but knew better than to say it out loud.

"What did father do anyway? He said he has taken his measures... He didn't...threaten them or hurt them , did he?"

The older woman stood up. "Your father would never do anything illegal, Daphne," she said and left the room after giving her daughter a soft kiss on the forehead.

...

Estella Zabini needed a drink desperately. This have had to be the worst Christmas ever. Not only, was her only son attacked the day before but now she had received a letter from that unlikable old classmate of hers, Greengrass, telling her to stay away from his family as if any of this was somehow her fault!

She dropped onto the couch and ordered the house elf to bring her something strong.

"Also, tell Blaise I need to see him."

"Yes Madame."

"Thank you dear. Ohh, I feel house elves are better than humans in many ways. Humans are so cruel," she exclaimed.

"Don't say those things madame!" the elf's eyes widened and it looked distressed.

"Sorry dear, it's part of your magic to be submissive to humans,isn't it? I did not mean to offend you," said Estella softly, "however I still think people should treat their house elves better, because elves are kinder than humans truly," she sighed, "dismissed."

The house elf disappeared with a loud "pop" and Estella was left to wonder for the thousandth time how her life turned out like this. How she ended up alone with a son who looked down on her and threatened by Menelaus Greengrass of all people.

"Mother, did you ask to see me?" Blaise sounded bored. He yawned and sat on one of the armchairs resting his feet on a footstool.

"Blaise my darling," she said lovingly and he just rolled his eyes, "how is school my baby. Are you doing your homework?"

"Mom, please stop talking to me like I'm 4," said Blaise, "school is dull like always and yes I'm studying when I have to. I can't wait to get my NEWTs" _so that I can leave this place_ , he thought to himself.

"Do you have any new friends?"

"You know Daphne Greengrass was here yesterday, what are you trying to ask?" he said coldly.

"Can't I be curious about my son's life?"

"Mom, cut the crap, I know you well."

"Ok,Blaise you can't see her anymore," she exclaimed and looked ready to cry, "I'm sorry it's all my fault."

"What?"

She started sobbing, "I'm such a bad mother, I am constantly ruining your life, I'm so sorry."

"Mother, calm down," he reluctantly put his hands on her shoulders to comfort her, "tell me what happened."

"It's her father, that insufferable Menelaus Greengrass," she wiped away her tears and started sipping the wine the house elf had brought her, "he said you shouldn't see her anymore."

"And? Why should I care what he says if she and me both want to continue?" he spoke confidently but could feel his heart sinking. Of course people wouldn't want their kids to associate with him. He tried to suppress his anger towards his mother. It was not her fault, at least not wholy.

"Blaise we can't antagonize him," she said wrapping her arms around him, "he has a lot of influence inside the Wizengamot. I wouldn't be surprised if he has the power to...I don't know, bribe people and frame me for all those horrible deaths."

"They can't prove anything," he gritted his teeth.

"Do you think it matters what they can prove? People with the right influence can throw you in Azkaban no matter about what happened to Sirius Black."

"There was evidence against Black, mother," he said but felt less sure than he sounded. His mother was a suspect for 7 murders. With or without proof, it wasn't so far-fetched that someone like Menelaus Greengrass would be able to frame her.

"Please promise mummy you won't put us in danger," she hid her face in his shirt. Like always he felt that he was the parent and she was the kid instead of the opposite.

"Mother calm down and look at me," he said taking her face in his hands, "everything will work out fine in the end. I won't let them take you away from trust me and I will solve everything."

She sniffed and looked at him with teary eyes, "you're such a good boy. So kind. So unlucky."

He rolled his eyes and stood up. He needed time alone to think. There was no way he would let go of Daphne as he had decided she was his, but this certainly complicated things.


End file.
